I’ve pushed out a recent burst of posts on campaigning.
There is nothing original in those posts. I have begged, borrowed and recycled ideas from the campaigning giants who I have had the honour to work with and know.
A long time ago I came across the writing of Chris Rose. Chris has written two campaign bibles:
How to win campaigns: Communications for Change
I took to bulk buying copies and handing them out for anyone who professed they were interested in the campaign craft.
You should listen to him. He’s led some of the most successful campaigns of their day – e.g. Brent Spar – and wrote the campaign rule book for WWF and Greenpeace. I believe success leaves clues. And, when those clues are written down, it is a shame not to use them.
Chris offers training for NGOs and progressive industry. If you can, go, you’ll learn a lot. His newsletter and website are excellent.
What can you do if attacked?
A common question I am asked does this model offer a way to stop NGOs or government attacking you. My answer is yes.
The caveat is if you want the answers, you need to read the book, and practise campaigning for 10 years.
The book drops hints like 500 euro notes laying on the ground in front of you in the street. All you have to do is stop and pick them up. Despite this, most people just walk on by.
I have written a longer piece that gives the answer and steps. I’ll choose if, and when, to publish it. Until then, this shorter piece will do (link).
My Take
With no sense of originality, I’ve sought to paraphrase many of the recommendations laid out in How to Win Campaigns and What Makes People Tick. I simply added some anecdotes from my political, NGO and corporate life.
My own take on the following chapters can be found via the following links:
- How to Begin – link
- Communication with Humans – link
- Motivational Values – link, link, link, and link
- Campaign Research and Development- link, link and link
- Campaign Plans – link and link
- Organising Campaign Communications – in part here and here
- Constructing Campaign Propositions – in part in the blogs above
- To Do and Not to Do – link
I do not deal in detail with ‘Working with News Media’, ‘Keeping a Campaign Going’, or ‘Old, New Media’, or ‘The Bigger Picture’.
I’ll update this sometime in a few months. I now have a new big writing project to work on.